Overweight and obesity has become an increasing world-wide problem. Obesity leads to a concomitant increase in several diseases such as diabetes, arteriosclerosis, hypertension as well as certain cancer forms. High-fat diet, either alone or added with sucrose, is one of the most important factors causing obesity, since these diets easily promote overeating. It is therefore of great importance to optimize the control of appetite for dietary fat to reduce obesity. Satiety for fat is mainly driven from the intestine, as demonstrated through the infusion of fat into the intestine, which reduces food intake (Greenberg D. and Smith, G. P., Psychosomatic medicine 58: 559-569, 1996). The reason for the suppression of food intake under these conditions is the release of various satiety peptides in the intestine by the contact of fat with the intestinal mucosa. Since fatty acids, the products of dietary fat, are absorbed immediately after their production, a reduced rate of fat digestion would theoretically optimize the satiety for fat.
The key enzyme during intestinal fat digestion is pancreatic lipase. The use of lipase inhibitor (Xenical) as a drug against obesity is well established (Sjöstrom L. et al, Lancet 352: 167-172, 1998). The lipase inhibitor not only reduces body weight but also improves insulin resistance. Such findings hence provide strong evidence for a role of intestinal fat digestion on satiety for fat and insulin sensitivity. The drawback with this lipase inhibitor is that it inhibits all types of lipases and produces steatorrea due to a strongly impaired fat digestion. It is therefore of utmost importance to develop a natural compound that retards fat digestion in a milder way without causing steatorrea as side effect. We have found a natural compound of high nutritive value that retards fat digestion, suppresses appetite by increasing satiety hormones and decreases serum triglyceride levels.